Limbo
by Tomecko
Summary: "When Huntsmen and Huntresses failed a mission, they didn't come home in coffins. They just... didn't come home at all." Taiyang struggles to accept the truth of Summer's fate. One-shot.


She wasn't dead.

He wouldn't accept it.

Sure, her mission had run over. But that happened. Sometimes the Grimm you were hunting led you on a long chase through the wilderness. Sometimes you found even more Grimm on the way. Sometimes you ended up out of range of the towers, and your Scroll wouldn't work for days. That was all just part of the job.

It was normal.

Sure, none of her missions had run this long before, but there was always time to break a record. She'd walk through that door any day now, and embrace him and the girls, and eventually, in the future, they'd both laugh about how worried he'd gotten.

 _"Don't you know I can take care of myself?"_ she would say, snuggling closer into his arms.

His Scroll rang, further destroying his already frazzled nerves.

It was the school again, checking on him, wanting an update. The whole staff was being exceptionally supportive. It was infuriating.

 _She isn't dead,_ he wanted to scream at them. Instead, he swallowed his anger and said, "She'll be home soon. I'm sure she just ran into some sort of snag. It happens."

The voice on the other end of the line paused uncomfortably before speaking. " _You take all the time you need, Taiyang. Spark can cover your classes for as long as necessary. We're all thinking of you and the girls."_

"She's fine," he said, and disconnected the call.

"Was that Mommy? Is she coming home?" a petulant voice demanded from the doorway.

He turned to find Yang staring at him sullenly, a smudge of mud on her cheek and her pigtails in disarray. Only five years old, she was already a spitting image of her mother, cast in lilac and fiery gold. His heart clenched.

"No, little dragon, it was work."

She frowned. "She said she was gonna make me cookies when she got back. I've been waiting."

He sighed. "I'll make you cookies tomorrow, how 'bout that?"

Her frown deepened further. "Your cookies suck." With a whirl of golden hair, she was gone, running outside to play in the yard again.

 _Harsh._ Well, she wasn't wrong. His cooking was passable, but had never come close to Summer's level of skill. He was going to have to get better at cooking if he was going to…

He stopped mid-thought.

 _If he was going to have to raise these girls alone._

He sat down heavily in the nearest chair.

She couldn't be dead. She was strong. Skilled. The best student in their graduating class at the academy. No measly Grimm could take her down. She had too much to live for, too much to come home to.

But… Grimm were man-eaters. Huntsmen and Huntresses that failed their missions didn't come home in coffins. They just… didn't come home at all. It was a cruel fact of the job that they all tried to forget.

And if they were on a solo hunt, if there were no teammates or witnesses…

How long? How long was he supposed to wait before he couldn't ignore the truth? How long before he had to break it to the girls that Summer was…

"Daddy, look!" a small voice called out as tiny feet padded into the kitchen. "Look, Daddy."

"Ruby, you're supposed to be napping…" His heart seemed to freeze in place as he looked up at his littlest girl.

For a fleeting second, he saw the flash of white and thought Summer was home, but it was only Ruby. She'd gotten into the closet somehow, and pulled out one of her mother's cloaks. The white fabric pooled around her on the floor as she toddled across the kitchen to him on a three-year-old's unsteady legs, barely managing not to trip.

"I'mma be a Huntress, Daddy!" she babbled, flapping the cape around with her chubby little arms. "Just like Mommy."

The tears came without warning and he hid his face in his hands, trying to muffle the sobs that leaked out, unbidden.

Ruby gazed curiously up at him with her mother's soft, silver eyes. She was too little to understand what crying looked like on grownups. Through the lattice of his fingers he could see her raising her arms.

"Up, Daddy." The little hands opened and closed. "Daddy, up."

He scooped her up and held her tight, burying his face into the white fabric of Summer's cape, letting the tears soak through. Ruby wrapped her little arms around his neck, too young and innocent to understand what was wrong, merely happy to be held by her father.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" A small hand touched his arm and he looked down to see Yang standing beside him, worry etched into her mud-smeared face. Yang was old enough to understand crying.

"I'm sorry I said your cookies sucked. They're okay." She buried her face in his side, hard, as if attacking him with her contrition.

He should have found her half-hearted apology funny, but it just brought a fresh wave of tears. "That's not why I'm sad, sweetie," he choked out, freeing an arm to wrap around her, to squeeze her close.

"Daddy sad?" said Ruby, one pudgy hand patting his wet cheek. She sounded mystified by the concept, that daddies could be sad, too.

"Yes, honey. Daddy's sad." he said.

Neither of the girls asked why. Perhaps, like him, they were already afraid of the answer.

A few more days. He'd wait a few more days, just in case. And then he'd tell them.

* * *

Author's Notes: A companion to a piece of art I drew: post/176721581471/tomecko-tomecko-rwby-art-challenge-day-29

Stemming from thoughts I had on how Ruby says her mother 'went on a mission and never came home,' meaning that Summer's grave is probably empty. I imagine this fate is probably common for hunters who face man-eating monsters, but it must make it hard for their loved ones to find any sort of closure when they go missing.

Also, yes, yes, I'm a monster, I know.


End file.
